Netflix Cowboy Bebop: Session 4 Review

I try to be as objective as possible. This means, every once in a while, I get pleasantly surprised by something I didn’t like at the start.

This episode…
This particular episode had my noggin joggin’.
I actually didn’t hate it. I know. I know. Hear me out. I am not sick. I don’t need my temperature taken.
I can explain. I really can.

I can actually compare this to the anime. So, differences:

Live-action name: Callisto Soul
Anime name: Gateway Shuffle

The prelude for the live-action had Faye confronting the person who had her identity stolen while she was in cryo-sleep. There was no prelude for this episode in the anime. So, filler number one.

Spike and Jet are eating at a restaurant in both. They argue over the food in the live-action. They are discussing the food in the anime while Jet scans someone he thinks is a possible bounty.

Faye bumps into the eco-terrorists in the opera house while trying to set up a sting to get her identity back in the Netflix version. Faye actually spends most of the first part of the anime trying to get someone to rescue her as she has run out of fuel for her spacecraft.

Jet and Spike run into the eco-terrorist on the satellite while finding their bounty because they walk up to the duo’s mark and fill him full of holes.

They shoehorn Vicious into the Netflix version as he plans to get rid of the Elders of the Syndicate. He’s basically filler, again. So is Julia as she goes to try to set up a meeting using the club owner as a go-between.

What I liked…

Yes, I actually liked some of this episode. As a matter of fact, if you leave out all the Vicious filleromi, it was a pretty good episode.

One of the changes was actually impressive. Instead of a retrovirus that would turn humans into simians and saving the rats, they protested against terraforming and used a toxin that would turn people into trees. I felt that was more apropros.

In the end, Faye had to choose between chasing the bounty, chasing her identity, or saving a planet from being terraformed and Spike and Jet from being turned into trees. She sacrificed her ship to save a planet and the cowboys. Not a bad way to end it. Not bad at all.

The Writing

Unfortunately, I can’t forget about the filleromi to do a proper review. The writing had its ups and downs. The downs being it made look Vicious look like a dullard that could not plan a coup without Julia. The writing looks to frame her as the mastermind when it was, in fact, Vicious.

The writers made Spike not trust Faye which led to him stealing her phone and her taking his ship and Ein. After they were on the planet, they had taken her weapon.

So, instead of Leo Getz asking if he can have his gun and Riggs and Murtaugh saying no, it’s Faye asking and Spike and Jet telling her no. I am coining it. They Getzed her, and it was eye-roll-inducing. This could have been avoided if there was any communication between the three of them at all. There wasn’t. Bad writing.

The only redeeming qualities of the writing were the changes I already stated.

Fight Scene

The only scene to speak of was the one between Faye and an eco-terrorist. It was as expected. It was alright, not great. At least they didn’t them slapping one another and trying to pull one another’s hair. With all the stereotypes thrown into the last one, I would not have been surprised.

The Acting

Let’s see. If constant bickering over food was a positive thing, I would give this one a star more than planned. Yes, Spike and Jet did bicker in the anime but it wasn’t always over food. That schtick is getting older than the oldest internet meme. It needs to cease.

There was no chemistry between Julia and Vicious. They’re just going through the motions. That’s it.

Faye was… Well, it was an actress playing Faye. It didn’t convince me. Again. They just seemed to phone in a lot of it.